Couch-frame.



No. 20H12. Patented May 27,1902'.

J. WATKINS.

GUCH FRAME.

(Application led July 26, 1901.)

(No Model.)

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ATENT Ferca.

JOEL IVATKINS, OF JOLIET, ILLINOIS.

COUCH-FRAIVIE.

SPECXFICATION forming part 0f Letters Patent No. '701,1 12, dated May 27, 1902.

Application filed July 26, 1901: Serial No. 69,819. (No model.)

T0 @ZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOEL IVATKINS, a citizen of the United States, residingat Joliet, in the county of Will and State of Illinois,` have invented anew and useful Improvement in Couch-Frarnes, of which the follow-V ing is a specification.

My invention relates to an im proved couchframe which is made principally of steel instead of wood. The slats of the same are also made of steel.

The objects of my improvement are- First. To make a better frame than the wooden frames now in use. It is lighter, stronger, more durable, and more likely to be free from vermin than those now inuse.

Second. To cheapen the cost of the construction of couches by using less material. No wood, nails, or glue are necessary. This invention dispenses with a large `part ot' the labor now employed in making wooden couchframes. In making the wooden frame by the present method of construction eight or nine persons are necessary to prepare it to the point where it is ready for upholstering. By my plan one man can construct the frame after the material is made ready.

Third. After the material is manufactured it can be shipped cheaply into districts where it is designed to be sold and there put together easily and upholstered.

Fourth. The invention set forth in this specification can be used not only in couchframes, but also in the construction of bedsteads and almost all kinds of household furniture.

I accomplish these objects in the manner illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in whichm Figure 1 is a top view of the frame as one would look downward upon it. Fig. 2 is a view of the inner side of one of the steel sides and shows also the springs and the location of the slats. Fig. 3 is a view of the method of fastening' the slats to the sides.

Letters refer to the several parts throughout the said views. l

On the lower side of the steel sides A a iiange is turned at right angle with the side one-half inch or more in width to allow the lower edge of the slats to rest on the same.

The said steel sides are of the usual length of that part of a couch-about five feet seven inches.

The style of slat shown in Fig. 3 is made of steel, about two inches wide, (before being formed into slats.) Both the slats and the steel sides are made of 14: gage steel or lighter, if required. The said slat (shown in Fig. 3) being of the width of about two inches before being made up and being then a Hat piece of steel is ilrsttslit down .the middle from each end to a pointabout oneinch back from the end. Then the two points are turned in opposite directions to a right angle with the body of the slat. Then this piece of steel,with the points turned as aforesaid, is bent in the middle lengthwise to a right angle and the slat, Fig. 3, is completed.

The manner of providing for fastening the slatto the frame (shown in Fig. 3) is by cutting from the sides and forcing inward two iianges or catches to receive the points of the slats, (bent as aforesaid and by inserting the two points in the two catches,and forming an interlock and pushing the slat downward un- .til the lower edge of the same rests on the said iiange on the lower side of the steel sides. No rivets or screws or other means of fastening than as here described are used in fastening this slat to the sides. The parts of the steel sides forced in to form the catches of the said interlock are usually about fiveeighths inch wide and three-fourths inch in length. The lower edges of the said catch are about three-sixteenths of an inch (or more, if necessary) above the angle where the fiange is turned on the side.

All slats have in their upper sides holes to receive spiral springs for upholstery.

The frame is designed to be used with from seven to nine slats in the bottom (more or less, according to the number of springs required) and with three slats in the head elevation, which will be made of whatever style described herein that is being used in the bot-v torn of the frame. Y

The open angles in the slats at the point of the head elevation and at the foot end of the springs may be filled with wood.

A piece of thin carved wood (the lower edge and ends of which may be seen projecting IOO under and at theends of the steel sides in Fig. 2) is fastened with screws to the outside of the steel sides. This piece `of wood is chiefly for ornament and covers the steel sides completely, except. the part of the sarne at the head end, which is wider than the rest. Where the ends of this piece of Wood project beyond the steel sides at the ends of the couch-frame,a piece of wood is fastened across from one side to the other to connect the sides and to afford a place to fasten upholstering. These two wooden pieces are shown in Fig.

' 1 as B and C. Upholstering is fastened on elevation.

'the sides also.

An irregular-shaped piece of wood D is used in the head elevation. This is fastened to the above-described wide part of the steel side by three screws and fits closely against the above-described long piece of wood on the side. D and D are connected firmly by a piece of wood E, which is also used as a place for fastening upholstering.

F is a flat piece of steel of the same material as the steel sides, fastened to the inside of the wooden head by three screws. Three slats are connected with the same for the head F is about eighteen inches long and about three inches wide.

'Ihis couch-frame is provided with steel legs braced to steel sides and to the nearest slats and upon which no patent is claimed.

Springs of the same kind as above described and used in that samemanner and fastened the same are intended to be used in the head elevation.

I know that couch-frames made of wood and of the general shape and appearance of this one have been made and used so long that I do not know when they were first brought into use; but

The particular points which I claim to have invented in vthis frame are- An interlock on the sides of a couch-frame or bedstead, for the purpose of connecting the sides with the slats, which said interlock is a part of the saine piece as the sides themselves, and consists of two points or catches facing each other, for receiving the ends of the slats, in combination with an an gle-shaped slat having the ends slit, thus making two points of the same dimensions, one of which points extends out from the body of the slat at a right angle with the same, and the other of which points extends downward at a right angle from the body of the slat and toward the angle between the two sides of the same, the said two points being for the purpose of connecting the slat to the sides'of a couchframe or bedstead.

In testimony whereof I have signed' my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses. I

JOEL WATKINS.

VWitnesses:

MARY E. DAVID, JAMES A. MoKEoWN. 

